Jaroslav Drobny passes away

LONDON, SEP. 14. Former Wimbledon champion and Olympic ice hockey medallist Jaroslav Drobny has died aged 79.

The Prague-born Czech who won a silver medal at the 1948 Games then added the 1954 Wimbledon title to his 1951 and 1952 French Open crowns - died in his adopted home of London on Thursday, Joas Slajs of the Czech Tennis Federation said on Friday.

Drobny had been in hospital for two weeks prior to his death.

A burly, bespectacled left-hander, Drobny won an astonishing 133 singles titles in his career but will be best remembered for his defeat of Ken Rosewall in that 1954 all England Club final, his third Wimbledon final appearance.

Son of a Prague tennis club groundsman, Drobny made his first Wimbledon appearance in 1938 as a 16-year-old, losing in the first round to Argentine Alejo Russell.

War was imminent and Drobny had just one more crack at the grasscourt Grand Slam event, winning a couple of rounds in 1939, before World War II broke out.

``We were just trying to stay alive,'' Drobny later recalled. The torch of freedom with the Allies gave us hope... Food was short, but we got along.

Drobny avoided deportation to Germany as a forced labourer, and was able to play ice hockey throughout the war, then his best sport.

Indeed the prescription dark glasses he wore on the tennis court were the legacy of an ice hockey accident which injured his eyesight.

He took up tennis again after the war and was in the world's top 10 for 10 successive years from 1946.

In 1946 Drobny was permitted by the new Communist government to play Wimbledon again. Rusty from little play and expecting little from himself, he beat the world's best, Jack Krammer in five marathon sets in the fourth round, reached the semifinals and was hailed a national hero at home.

At the time he was a remarkable two-sport world-class athlete - ice hockey in the winter, tennis the rest of the time.

So good was he as a forward on the ice that he played a leading role in Czechoslovakia winning the world amateur championship in 1947, scoring three goals in the final against the U.S., and collecting silver at the 1948 Olympics.

By 1949 though, tennis had taken over. That was the year Drobny made the decision to leave his homeland for good, defecting with Davis Cup team mate Vladimir Cernik during a Swiss tournament at Gstaad.

He won his Wimbledon title under an Egyptian passport before becoming a British citizen in 1959 and lived in London until his death.

Drobny had not been to the Czech Republic since 1985, when he attended the World Ice Hockey Championships in Prague.

Our Special Correspondent adds: In Chennai, the greatest player in the history of Indian tennis and the man who became an instant international star following his famous victory over Jaroslav Drobny at Wimbledon in 1956, Ramanathan Krishnan, said that the news of the former Wimbledon champion's death deeply saddened him.

``It is very sad to hear of the death of Drob,'' said Krishnan. ``I knew him very well and he was a true champion and a wonderful man.''

``I made my name first beating him at Wimbledon and that is a match I can never forget,'' said Krishnan. ``True, he was at the fag end of his career then but it was never easy to beat Drob.''

Krishnan said that Drobny was the most feared opponent of his times. ``When we checked the draw at touranaments those days, the first thing we looked for was Drob's name. If he was in the other half we were happy. He was a touch player who had tremendous power too,'' said the two-time Wimbledon semifinalist.

``I have played doubles with him too and I learnt a few things from him. He was a good teacher,'' said Krishnan.

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